Alice Cooper, Manchester Arena. 27th May 2022

So this is billed as a joint headline tour, but we’re so late we don’t see any of The Cult. Well we catch the last few seconds of ‘She Sells Sanctuary’ and Astbury sounds okay, but that’s as much as I can comment. It’s not a good start and I’m in a bad mood. If anything’s going to cheer me up though, it’s Alice. You’re in safe hands, you know exactly what you’re going to get from an Alice Cooper show. He’s got a formula and routine that works and rarely deviates. I’ve seen this set, these props several times over the years, but you know what, it’s always fantastic! It’s easy to explain why. Alice is a showman. Alright he’s an elder statesman these days, but he still knows how to work a stage. Both the front and the the castle turrets built up around the back of this theatre production. ‘Feed My Frankenstein’, ‘No More Mr Nice Guy’, ‘Bed of Nails’, kick things off, they all feel like rock standards. Alright they’re not all particularly innovative, take ‘Hey Stoopid’ for instance, but damn they’re catchy. Which is why Alice endures. Strip away the theatrics and it’s straight up rock n roll. The difference is with an Alice set it’s banger after banger. He knows how to drive an audience. “Don’t wanna hear ‘bout your politics, just shut up and rock” and rock we do. The always huge ‘Under My Wheels’ rocks just that bit harder, allowing all three guitarists a bit of solo time. As great as Ryan Roxie and Tommy Henriksen are, there’s no doubt it’s the Nita Strauss show. Not that she tries to steal it. She’s just exceptionally good. It says a lot about the strength of these songs when a massive hit like ‘Poison’ gets dropped in mid-set. It’s not the best song, but everyone knows it and makes a lot of a noise. Then the giant freaky baby gets released during ‘Billion Dollar Babies’, what more could you want!? Alice takes a short interlude while the band fill. He’s not 18 anymore. This allows time for him to get his straight jacket on though for the maddening ‘Steven’. It’s all too much for the guy behind us, who throws up all his expensive beer as Alice gets his head guillotined for what must be the thousandth time. I’m out in the aisle for the rest of the set, dodging the vomit. Which is fine as everyone is near the front. When will you learn AO Arena. People don’t want seats on the floor space. So we’re all breaking the rules as Alice tears into the encore with ‘Schools Out’ that weaves into Floyd’s ‘Another Brick in the Wall’ and back again. Bringing things to a close in a sea of balloons and confetti. Not a great start to the evening, but thanks to Alice it’s a great end.